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Alexandria restaurant with broken pipes to reopen earlier than expected

ALEXANDRIA - Those with plans to dine at Bello Cucina over the holidays are now in luck, as the restaurant will be reopening a week and a half earlier than anticipated after a burst pipe shut it down last week.

According to owner Jason Mueller of Glenwood, the Alexandria restaurant will be open again on Tuesday, Dec. 20. Though repairs on the main bar area are not complete, the two smaller dining rooms and the upstairs bar area will be usable.

After the pipe burst early on Thursday, Dec. 15, Mueller said he was told that a previous owner of the building had a similar incident where a sprinkler pipe had frozen and burst and caused a significant amount of damage in the lounge.

“From what the gentleman from the sprinkler company told me, it was never repaired correctly,” Mueller said. “So it happened again and I had waterlines burst all over my entire bar.”

Though the extent of the damage has yet to be determined, Mueller says it is significant. “We don’t have dollar amount, but I’m guessing in the $20,000 range,” Mueller said.

Mueller opened the Alexandria Bello Cucina in June. Other locations include Fergus Falls, St. Joseph, Spicer, Marshall and Morris.

The Morris location also has been closed for some time due to a fire in September, and Mueller says the reopening for that location could still be a month away.

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